Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-04-21
THE Funny TRIBE.

Throughout ancient and medieval
timls there were many sUpsrs,itio0S
connected with isliBg which Noulo Or
amusing to the people of TO day. The
Old Greeks and R mans offer, up Ger
tain fishes as sacrllicr Ia tue gojs. In
NJ any Countries The Ell Was held TO be
peculiarly sacred. The Egyptian priests
fed eels with cheese mixed with entrails
of animals, in order that the eels would
prupItiate the gods in favor of the couG-
try. Most of the Greeks refrained from
the use Of the coach, small, tasteless
6sh inhabiting running streams, in the
belief that if they touched it the god-
dess, who was supposed to be the spe
cial guardian over them, would, accord
Jog to Plutarch, "goaw their legs, cover
their bodies with ulcers and devour
their livers." But in these modern days
the gentle art" has maEy enthusiastic
devotees in every civilized country in
the world, whose thoughts turn lightly
ia the pleasant spring days to rant bles
with rod and reel beside rollicking
mountain brooks or along the margin of
river or lake. To these persons the fol-
lowing presentation of the principal
charscteristics. haunts and habits of the
leading species OF game tish of America,
will awaken pleasant recollections.
The perch family is one of the largest
and most varied, as well as one the best
known and most highly priced Of all the
game fishes of the world. Some ichthy.
ologists put the number of known gen
era AT so or 65 and that of species at 900
or $50. The more prominent species in
the United States are the yellow perch,
the yellow pike perch. the white perch,
the Dream, the sun6sh, the rock or strip
ed bass, the fresh water bass, the Oswe-
go bass, the "0hio salmon" and buffalo
perch. The yellow perch is a very
snowy fsh.but the veteran angler places
lower value upon 1t. both as to the ex-
citement afforded in catching 1t and the
quality Of its flesh, than he does upon
some other men bers of the family. The
average size of full grown one is about
twelve inches, although specimens have
been caught whose length was eighteen
inches, and whose weight Was three
pounds. II is common in the streams,
large and small, of the Middle States
and Canada, and bas recently increased
in numbers in the rivers of the West
and South west. It can be taken with
bait of minnow, shrimp, spoon or artifir
cial fly.
There are about thirty varieties of cat
fish peculiar to America. The principal
ones are called bullhrads. horned pouts
white Cat, mud cat. shovel nosed cat
and channel cat. Some one Or more
varieties are found in all the rivers and
lakes of North America. All prefer
muddy bottoms. They are caught
With ordinary bait. To thnse not H.
rustumpd to the taste of trout, shad or
some of the more highly priced salt was
ter fish, the cats are greatly esteemed
article Of diet. The lake catfish is from
two to four feet long, weighing from
six to thirty pounds. Tie white cat in
habits the rivers west of the Alleghe
MES, and north of Potomac, and the
mudish lives 10 the rivers of the Gulf
States. The former is from 6 to 20
inches, and from one to six pounds, and
the elatter from six to thirty inches, and
from one to twenty pounds.
The most interesting to the angler of
all the fishes of the perch family are the
bsssses. The black bass Is called by the
scientists strictly sea fish. but one
variety OF it is found nevertheless. not
only in the Hudson and Delaware, where
it swims in from the ocean, but also in
Lake Champlain and other large bodies
of fresh water in the northern portions
Of the United States as well as in Can>
ada and the eastern tributaries of the
Mississippi. Its weight ranges from
half pound to fifteen pounds. The
striped bass. or roekfish, is practically
confined to that portion of the country
east of the Alleghenies. Next to the
salmon and the trout, the atriped bass
affords more excitement to the angler
than any other fish in American waters.
Its weight ranges from half pound
to eight or ninety pounds, and many
which weighed between forty and fifty
pounds have been caught with rod and
line. Like all the bass species. it is ex-
cellent on the table. The red bass and
the white bass are small and not so
highly priced for the sport they give as
the other members Of the bass type here
mentioned. Except the black bass, these
fish are virtually confined to the waters
east of the Allegheny.
TIE cary is a fish which has become
plentiful, especially in western rivers
and ponds, within recent years. It is
found in several Of the largest rivers of
the United States. There are about
eighty varieties Of the American species
They are only moderately popular
among anglers in this country. The
common AMI mirror carp, however. are
esteemed more highly than they were
twenty years ago. This is partly due to
the increasing scarcity of all game fish
and also to the fact that the carp itself,
AS an article of food, seems to have i'm